Mi-go

Mi-Go
Khannea SunTzu's interpretation of a Mi-Go
First appearance	The Whisperer in Darkness (1931)
Created by	H. P. Lovecraft

Mi-go are a fictional race of extraterrestrials created by H. P. Lovecraft and used by others in the Cthulhu Mythos setting. The word Mi-go comes from "Migou", a Tibetan word for yeti. The aliens are fungus-based lifeforms that look like winged humanoid crabs, and do not resemble yeti.

Mi-go are first named as such in Lovecraft's short story "The Whisperer in Darkness" (1931). However this is considered an elaboration on earlier references in his sonnet cycle Fungi from Yuggoth (1929–30) to descriptions of alien vegetation on dream-worlds.

The Mi-go have appeared across a range of media set in the Cthulhu Mythos.

The "Mi-go" are large, pinkish, fungoid, crustacean-like entities the size of a man; where a head would be, they have a "convoluted ellipsoid" composed of pyramided, fleshy rings and covered in antennae. They are about five feet (1.5 m) long, and their crustacean-like bodies bear numerous sets of paired appendages. They possess a pair of membranous bat-like wings which are used to fly through the "aether" of outer space (a scientific concept which is now discredited). The wings do not function well on Earth. Several other races in Lovecraft's Mythos also have wings like these.

In the original short story, the creatures cannot be recorded using ordinary photographic film, due to their bodies being formed from otherworldly matter. They are capable of going into suspended animation until softened and reheated by the sun or some other source of heat. The Mi-go can transport humans from Earth to Pluto (and beyond) and back again by removing the subject's brain and placing it into a "brain cylinder" as an isolated brain, which can be attached to external devices to allow it to see, hear, and speak.

In "The Whisperer in Darkness" the Mi-go are heard to give praise to Nyarlathotep and Shub-Niggurath, suggesting some form of worship. Their moral system is completely alien, making them seem highly malicious from a human perspective.